(but inside i'm) not so different
by Cahaya Sidur
Summary: Drabbles set in an AU where Diego has permanently lost the use of one leg. Will cover all movies.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age or this idea (prompt from **DiegoRedeemedLover** )

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 **AN: So, since I decided NOT to do a whole story, I'm going to do drabbles. This first one is more for me to try and get in the mood. The second is already written, so it'll be posted soon.**

 **Basically, this is what I think could happen if Diego was crippled in the first movie - prompt: Diego has lost the full use of one leg, how does he cope with it?...Essentially, Diego is crippled because of fracturing a bone in his leg during the battle with Soto, and since the sequels pretty much magically made him better, this is a new tack to take.**

 **I'll try and cover all movies. Title is from the quote: Please understand I have a disability, not a disease. You can't catch it. I may walk, talk and move differently than you do, but on the inside I'm not so different.  
**

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"How're you doing?" Manny asks, looking down at Diego. Diego doesn't respond for some time, taking his own time to respond. Manny wonders if he heard Manny the first time, and opens his mouth to repeat the question before Diego's quiet voice interrupt his thoughts.

"My leg."

Just two words. Manny glances at the leg, the one which had been struck when Soto had tried to go for the killing shot. Manny doesn't say anything. He knows, through rumours, about the brutality of pack life. The pack works together, using every member to their fullest potential. The second one of them faltered, they were killed and eaten by their own pack.

 _I'm sorry._ Manny thinks, but he doesn't say it because he knows Diego doesn't like sympathy, always shrugging any pity shown by either Sid or Manny off. Manny swallows, not sure what to say. He feels guilty. Soto was trying to kill _him_. Not Diego. Diego risked everything for him. And Sid. If they had failed, Diego would have had to face the penalty for his crime against his pack.

Sid's 'playground' enters his line of sight, and he pauses, surprised at the children voices coming out of it. Huh. He never pegged Sid for a successful type.

Diego's brilliant green eyes narrow as he runs forward, as well as he can with a limp hind-leg. "Are they…are they tying him up?"

There is a hint of laughter in his tone, and Manny frowns. Not again. He sighs and lumbers into the playground. He swears Sid will be the death of him. Diego follows at a more sedate pace, clearly enjoying this. The thought makes a smile tug at Manny's lips, before he remembers that he's not _supposed_ to smile, and stops outside a group of children, who were currently…burying him?

Kids just got more and more creative as time wore on.

He sighs. He knows he would be expected to defend the pathetic creature looking up from his burial site, so he reluctantly intervenes. "Hey, hey, whoa. Who said you kids could torture the sloth?"

"Manny, don't squash their creativity." Diego, barely concealing his smirk, limps up. Manny shoots him a look. Now was not the time to be divided over the sloth's fate.

And then Sid pokes his head out, opens his mouth, and effectively quashes Manny's tiny willingness to help him. "Hey Manny! Diego! My bad manly mammals! Wanna give a sloth a hand?"

Manny lets out another sigh as he uses his trunk to yank Sid out of the hole. He briefly contemplates throwing Sid far far away (for some strange reason, the voice that tells him to do that sounds remarkably like Diego), but logic won out and Manny sets Sid in front of him and Diego.

"I opened my camp! Campo de Sid." Sid seems exuberant at this. Manny only shoots him an unimpressed look. Diego looks even more unimpressed, his green eyes glaring at the sky. "It means 'Camp of Sid'."

"Congratulations." Diego's tone is sarcastic. "You are now an idiot in two languages."

Manny tries very hard not to laugh, because that is just the witty scathing response he expects from Diego. At least one of them isn't letting him down today. He tries very hard not to sigh again as Sid motions for Diego to keep quiet.

"Not in front of the k-i-d-z." _Not only are you an idiot in two languages, Sid, you are also a butcher of the English language._ The voice in his head that sounds like Diego drawls out the words. "These little guys love me, right, Philly?" Sid asks one of them. Manny has a sudden unexplained urge to pick Sid up and throw him away, like his earlier instincts told him to. Well…it did sound a lot like Diego's voice. Diego must be rubbing off of him. By the time he snaps back into the present, he sees Diego grimacing as Sid gives a goofy smile, waving a paw in his face.

The children are laughing.

He should probably nip this one in the bud before Sid gets too hyped up about the idea to argue with them about it.

"Sid, you're not qualified to run a camp."

"These kids look up to me. I'm their role model."

Manny was wrong. Sid was _already_ hyped up. Which will make this even harder. Which gives him a headache. Which is why he only looks down, frowning, as Sid lands at their feet.

Thankfully, Diego's still sarcastic tone soothes his frustration. "I can see that." Maybe because it's that tone of voice and those words that finally snap Sid out of whatever godly-persona he had decided to adorn that day.

Sid starts rambling on about something to do with respect, but Manny doesn't bother listening. He looks at Diego, sees the slight wince as he moves his paws restlessly. He had only recovered a few days ago. Standing around for so long must be taking a toll on him. He knows that Diego would never admit it, so he prepares to turn around and get Diego to a more secluded place where he can rest in peace.

Sid's finishing his monologue as he hops away, and Manny rolls his eyes because he had to give the sloth credit - without him and his constant failings, he and Diego probably wouldn't have anything to bond over. "C'mon, Sid."

"Sid." Diego calls out.

Sid continues to hop away.

Manny's attention is taken again by the beaver child, who's probably the instigator and leader of all Sid-suffering related 'pranks'. "Hey, why don't we play pin the tail on the mammoth?"

Alarm floods Manny and he and Diego turn simultaneously towards Sid's retreating back. "SID!"


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

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 **AN: Alright, so this is going to be the last thing I post for some time, as I'm going to be travelling for the next month and a half and I won't have wifi. If I happen to find a place with free wifi, I'll upload the next part of this. If not, well...see you guys in August! Hope you guys enjoy, and big thanks to DiegoRedeemedLover!**

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 _Our responsibility. Ready to make the 'ultimate sacrifice' to save our species?!_

The thoughts ricocheted through Manny's head as he approached the small fire. Diego was looking content, for the first time in a long long time, and his eyes were gleaming as he looked into the fire. Their shadows danced in the light as Manny joined them. The two of them looked up, looking quite hopeful. Diego nearly had a smile on. "So…how'd it go?"

"Fine." Manny stumbled over the word. "Fine. Good. Yeah."

At this, Diego's eyes narrowed in concern, and Manny cursed the sabre for having the ability to immediately detect when something was wrong. Before he could say anything, though, Ellie stomped by haughtily, with her brothers perched on her, their arms crossed and eyes closed. Ellie's footprint sprayed sand over the small fire, dousing out their only light source.

"Okay, let's go." Ellie's tone was annoyed. "We travelled with you all day, and now you're coming with us at night."

Manny frowned. Stubborn mammoth. He hadn't meant anything bad when he had talked to her earlier. He looked at his companions, eyes instantly catching the tired grimace that Diego gave as he stood up wearily. Manny's eyes widened. They _had_ travelled all day, which meant that Diego's leg was surely causing him problems. Dammit. He looked up at Ellie. "But we can't see in the dark." His mouth threw out a stupid excuse.

He looked down to see Diego giving him a half-hearted smile at his effort. Manny sent a nervous smile back, but it was quashed when Ellie spoke up again. "Well, then, enjoy the flood."

Manny's eyes narrowed. Ellie knew that Diego's leg had been giving him problems - heck, her own useless brothers had been poking fun at it all day! He swore, if this was some sort of payback, it wasn't funny, and he sure as anything wasn't going to take it like this. Just as he opened his mouth to tell her off, he felt a nudge to his leg. He looked down. Diego shook his head and started walking.

 _It's not worth it._

Manny scowled at her back. That stubborn mammoth. Why the hell would he want to mate with her anyway?

Sid quickly rushed up behind Ellie, sure to keep a safe distance from her.

Diego looked back. "You coming?"

Manny quickly caught up with his friend, sighing. "How's your leg?" He asked, voice lowered.

Diego's eyes narrowed. "It's _fine_." He practically hissed out.

"No, I mean," Manny back-pedalled, knowing he had just offended Diego. "I mean, can you walk for so long? Do you need to rest?" He winced, now knowing that he had _definitely_ earned himself Diego's scorn. The sabre hated to be reminded that he was…well, weak. A burden. That he had a permanent limp.

"I'm fine." Diego hissed again, before he continued walked, determinedly avoiding Manny's gaze.

Manny internally cursed himself. What kind of luck was this? That he'd piss off both his mammoth friend (who maybe he had been hoping would be his mate) and his best friend, who had stuck with him through thick and thin.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Ice Age.

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 **AN: And here's the next one! It's sort of a part 2 from the previous chapter. Admittedly, this is my favourite-st part of Ice Age 2. I even watched it and recorded the dialogue down myself! So proud.**

 **To earth nugget: Thanks so much for the review! Hm, well, they're not gonna be chronological. Most of these are me thinking to the movies or watching them, and then going: there's a perfect moment! And then writing something down. So there's every chance I'll get to the first movie at Glacier Pass. :)**

 **Oh, and _huge_ thanks to DiegoRedeemedLover and earth nugget for reviewing! And to those who followed and favourited! :)**

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Seeing as how Diego was clearly not going to talk to him, Manny decided to try his luck with Ellie. Her responses were curt and inaccurately delivered by her opossum brothers. As he finally snapped at them, he watched the opossums get annoyed, walking onwards. And then the floor shook. And rose.

Ellie let out a shriek from where the ground disappeared under her feet, while Diego yelped in pain as Sid grabbed ahold of both his hind-legs. "Sid!" Sid was too busy screaming to realise the pain shooting up his friend's leg. Manny snorted. And Sid called himself a friend. His thoughts were surprisingly sadistic at this time of night. Maybe because of the lack of sleep.

He raced around, trying to find the edge of the cliff. The rock continuously rolled beneath them, until Diego, through gritted teeth, ordered them to "stop moving!".

They obeyed, and the rock mercifully stopped moving. Manny's brow furrowed in concern when he noticed Diego biting onto his lip, sending a pained look every now and then at his legs, and Sid, who was still attached to them.

And then the rock broke and they dropped.

Manny's mind blanked with panic, unsure of what to do as Ellie's side (with Diego on it!) started to break off.

"Manny! Ellie! Lock trunks!" Manny frowned, watching Ellie cringe in disgust. "NOW!" It was only because it was Diego speaking that Manny hesitantly obeyed, pulling her back. As Diego shouted out orders to Eddie and Crash, Manny's mind couldn't help drifting to how thankful he was that Diego knew exactly what to do and how to deliver it. His time as Soto's Beta was definitely the reason for this.

Shoving that aside and noticing the worried expression on Ellie's face, Manny decided to try his luck. After all, what was the worst that could happen? They could all die, right?

"Um, I'm sorry." Seeing Ellie's surprised look, he went on. "If, um, what I said earlier offended you."

 _"IF_ it offended me?" Ellie asked incredulously, tugging away.

Eddie and Crash screamed as they were moved away from the ledge. "THAT it offended her! _THAT_ it offended her!"

"That!" Manny hastily corrected, trying to hide a grin at the look Diego shot him. One that told him he was absolutely crazy to be bringing this up now, but at least he was trying. "That it offended you!" He continued on. "You just overreacted, that's all!"

" _I_ overreacted?!" Ellie demanded.

"TAKE IT BACK!" Crash hollered at him.

"THERE ARE OTHER LIVES AT STAKE HERE!" Eddie wailed.

"Wait, he's got a point!" Sid defended him.

"He's got NOTHING!" Crash shouted back at him.

"It was just a misunderstanding!" Sid yelled.

"It was insensitive!" Eddie cried out.

"APOLOGISE!" The last person Manny thought would intervene intervened. "Now!" Diego demanded.

"Why me?" Manny asked, eyes wide. Diego didn't look impressed as he struggled to keep hold. Manny briefly thanked whoever was up there for the muscles that Diego build up in his upper arms that currently kept him clinging onto the ledge. "She overreacted!"

Ellie had taken what he said, put words in his mouth then proceeded to blow it way out of proportions. He sure as anything wasn't gonna apologise for that.

"Apologise!" Diego scowled, and Manny was reminded that he had angered his friend as well.

"No!" Manny roared back.

"Just do it!" Diego snarled back, eyes glinting with promised malice if Manny didn't do what he said.

"Alright, I'm sorry!" Ellie chimed up.

"WHAT?!" Five different voices chorused, looking up at her in confusion.

"He's right, I overreacted!" Ellie said, looking nervous.

"You mean you-" Manny began, but was swiftly cut off.

"Not another word or I'll put you out there myself!" Diego snapped. Manny inwardly winced. Right. Diego was still mad at him. _Just because he's saving your life doesn't mean he's forgiven you._

And then Sid landed safely on the other side, unbalancing the whole stack of rocks.

Manny and Ellie's eyes widened.

"Manny! Ellie! Run!" Diego roared at them even as he struggled back onto the ledge. Manny shot him a worried look - would he make it with his limp? Manny obeyed, though, and led Ellie to the other side. He limped the best he could as the mammoths reached to safety, looking at each other in relief before Manny turned in alarm as Diego reached out, green eyes wide with fear. Manny lunged forward, thanking all the lucky stars up there that Diego somehow made it this far even with his limp.

Ellie's trunk joined his as she helped hold Diego up.

"I guess we finally did something right, together." Ellie said softly, looking at Manny.

Manny smiled, and looked down, where Diego was eyeing the fallen pieces of rocks.

"Uh, don't mind me, just swinging off the edge here." Diego looked up with a gleam in his hazel eyes, with something that while was not necessarily _warmth_ , was something close to it. And Manny let hope bloom that this was Diego's way of telling him that Manny might be forgiven sometime soon.

Who knew it took nearly dying to earn forgiveness?


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

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 **AN: And here's the next one, from Dawn of the Dinosaurs! Hope I don't let you guys down :)**

 **Big thanks to DiegoRedeemedLover for reviewing! XD**

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"Hey." Manny plodded next to Diego, who was watching the horizon thoughtfully. Almost instinctively, Manny's eyes dropped to Diego's crippled leg, which was lying at an awkward angle. There was a sharp clearing of the throat behind them, and Manny punched Diego's shoulder.

Diego looked up, a half-confused half-irritated look on his face. "Why'd you do that?"

"I don't know." Manny shrugged, realizing just _how_ stupid that move was. No wonder Ellie had looked at him so funny when he first suggested it. Right. Ellie. He cleared his throat. "So, um, listen. Ellie thinks there's something bothering you." Manny looked down, inadvertently dropping his gaze to Diego's leg.

Manny winced as he _felt_ Diego's sharp glare bore a hole in his head. Diego always got a little sensitive regarding his injury. "And I told her-"

Diego cut him off. "Actually, I've been thinking." Manny fell silent, knowing how rare it was for Diego to actually speak his thoughts. "That soon…it might be time for me to head out."

Wait. _What_?! Manny's thoughts abruptly halted. That can't be happening. Diego had stuck with him throughout everything…Manny had shared things with him that he had never told anyone else before, even Ellie. And now, now, at the _most_ important time in his life, Diego was tearing himself away? No.

Just no.

Manny didn't let his friend continue. "I'll just tell Ellie that you're fine." His voice was tense, curt, and Manny winced at his tone. He didn't take it back though.

"Look, who are we kidding, Manny?" Diego sighed heavily. "I'm losing my edge."

"What edge?" Manny snapped back. He had gotten over the initial shock, and all that was left was anger and bitterness. He had trusted Diego, _helped_ him in his time of need, and now when Manny wanted, no _needed_ a friend to help him, Diego was leaving? No. The sabre was not allowed to do that. "You haven't _got_ an edge ever since you broke your stupid leg!" His frustration spilled over into his words.

Instantly, Manny knew he'd made a mistake. Diego's expression became closed off, his words frosty. "You know that's not what I meant."

"Oh yeah?" Manny huffed, practically growling now. "What? You think you can go survive alone? With your leg?! You're not going to last a day!" His breaths came heavy now, eyes narrowed at his friend.

Diego looked up, nothing in his expression. "That was a low blow, Manny." He murmured. Even as Manny knew it, the mammoth turned away.

"Fine! Go find some adventure, Mr. Adventure Guy!" Manny scowled back. "Don't let my boring domestic life kick you in the butt on your way out."

"Manny-" Diego tried.

Manny didn't even turn around. He knew he had said some horrible things, things that _were_ a low blow, that would definitely hurt Diego's ego, hurt the bond with him and Diego, but if Diego wanted to leave, _fine_. Diego can go and leave. Manny would burn all bridges with him if need be.

He ignored Ellie, whose eyes were concerned, and stomped off, trying to miserably stamp down the feeling of guilt welling in him.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

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 **AN: And here's another one, sorry for taking so long to post this one! I've recently watched Ice Age: Collision Course once again, and just wrote three dribbles about it.**

 **Well, this one is set in the aftermath of Ice Age: Continental Drift. ENORMOUS thanks to DiegoRedeemedLover (your reviews literally _always_ makes me smile) and Guest for reviewing!**

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Manny found Diego alone at night. He was surprised – after all the chaos from previously, he had thought that Diego would stay close to Shira. The two had seemed very close, and Manny fully supported their mating.

"Hey." He started awkwardly. Diego looked up from where he was resting.

"Hey."

Manny cleared his throat. He was no good at this – Ellie was the one who comforted people. "So…where's Shira?"

Diego's eyes darkened as he looked down at his paws. Manny inwardly winced. Dammit. Did he say something wrong? Had he read the relationship all wrong? "She's…she's spending time with Ellie."

"Oh." Manny said.

That got him a small smile. "Yeah. Oh."

Manny waited, hoping that Diego would open up to him. It was a tactic Diego himself used on Manny, and to the mammoth, at least, it was a very effective method. After waiting a few minutes of nothing happening, Manny cleared his throat again. "You and Shira, huh?"

"Yeah." Diego looked up.

"She's a lucky sabre." Manny said.

Diego sighed. "I'm the lucky one."

"What'd you mean?" Manny asked, seeing the opening and diving headfirst into it.

Diego rolled his neck and frowned. "I'm crippled, Manny. No sabre would want a crippled sabre. Especially if the crippled is male." He looked down. "In sabre tradition, males are the ones who provide. Females mate to have security, to have cubs. A crippled sabre is an unattractive one."

Manny frowned. From what he saw of Diego's pack, Diego could be considered quite attractive. But, he supposed, sabres were different and relied more upon practicality. It would explain Diego's need for independence, for no pity. If he allowed pity, he was admitting to being useless or being a burden.

The mammoth looked up. "Well, in case you haven't noticed, she's a pirate. Which means that she doesn't care about sabre tradition. I'd bet she doesn't even know about it. And can you see Shira being content with just having someone provide for her? She'd be doing all the providing, if it were up to her."

Diego laughed. "That's one way of putting it."

"And you're not completely useless, Diego." Manny said. He smiled down at Diego, who looked pretty awestruck. Manny grinned to himself as he looked away. "C'mon, we should go now, just to make sure Sid hasn't messed up again."

"You're way too mean to the sloth." Diego rolled his eyes, but there was a near-smile as he got up and limped after his friend. Manny slowed down his pace so that they could walk side by side. As they always would.


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